Here you go James something for all the primitive weapons aficionados out there. From the UK Sun an article about a javelin thrower hunting bear with a spear. The hunter posted the video of his kill on YouTube and stirred up quite a controversy. Naturally.

“BEAR SLAUGHTER Fury as sick javelin thrower films himself stabbing a black bear with a 7ft spear before leaving it to die a slow, agonising death”

“Filmed in Alberta, Canada, the ‘shameful’ killing has been blasted by both animal rights campaigners and big game hunters”

A BLOODTHIRSTY former javelin thrower has been slammed by animal rights campaigners after filming himself killing a huge black bear with a SPEAR. Filmed in Alberta, Canada, the disturbing video shows sick hunter Josh Bowmar slaughtering the wild animal with a homemade weapon – causing the beast to suffer a slow and painful death. Bodybuilder Bowmar, 26, who was an All-American javelin thrower at university, is filmed stabbing the bear with a 7ft spear which was fitted with a GoPro camera.

The gruesome clip also features the hunter, from Columbus, Ohio, lifting up the animal’s corpse while its intestines pour out of its stomach. The fitness fanatic, who uploaded the footage to his YouTube channel, is filmed cheering with joy, proclaiming: “I just did something I don’t think anybody in the world has ever done.” The cruel killing, which took place in May, was been blasted by big game hunters and animal rights campaigners who claim the death could have lasted for up to 20 hours. Speaking with The Mirror, Masha Kalinina, of Humane Society International, said: “The glee with which the hunter celebrates spearing the bear’s vital organs is a cheap act for the camera and the sick fans of this YouTube channel.” Bowmar, who owns a fitness company, and his guides reportedly found the animal’s bloodied corpse the day after the killing as the bear ran away with spear impaled inside its body. According to reports, the long, thick weapon was embedded two feet into the colossal beast which weighed around 28 stone and was 7ft 1in in height. Fellow hunters have also hit out at the footage calling the act ‘shameful’. One hunter wrote on popular US hunting website Outdoorhub: “I’ve been hunting for 56 years and this video was disgusting. “It’s mindless jackasses like this performing shameless ‘stunts’ that attempt to glorify the hunter, but by doing so demean the game animal, that give all the anti-hunters the arguments they need to hate us. “Shameful spectacle of pseudo bravado. Stop focusing on yourself and show some respect for the animal. “If you want to take an animal humanely (which you obviously could care less about) then shoot it with a rifle.”

Bowmar and his wife Sarah travel the world hunting big game. Bowmar’s wife Sarah, who is a former vegetarian, savagely killed another bear with a bow and arrow the day before her husband’s controversial kill. On their YouTube channel, Bowmar Bowhunting, the pair say they “love travelling the world and hunting big game with bow and arrow only. We seek after the biggest most challenge game that walk this Earth.” Bowmer boasted online about the spear hunt, saying: “I just speared a bear. I’ve worked so hard. This is crazy. That was a huge bear. I can’t believe that just happened. He’s going down. I drilled him perfect.“ That was the longest throw I thought I would ever make. I mean, that was a 12 to 15-yard spear throw. On the ground. No blind. No back-up. We have no shotguns within miles of here.” The former college athlete told The Mirror that the killing was “humane”. He said: “First and foremost, spear hunting gives the animal the greatest chance of escape, considering our ethical killing range is within 10 yards. “The bear I speared only ran 60 yards and died immediately, that’s as humane and ethical as one could get in a hunting situation on big game animals. “Trust me, no one cares more about these animals than us hunters, especially me.”

But animal campaigner Kalinina insisted the killing was an act of “pure selfish bloodlust”. She said: “Lured to a trash bin full of bait in the middle of a clearing, the bear is obviously searching for food, only to be heartlessly slaughtered for fun. “No one could argue there is any skill involved here, no exhibition of hunting prowess, and certainly this has nothing to do with conservation, as trophy hunters often argue. “This is pure selfish bloodlust, a desire for a thrill and a trophy at the expense of an innocent life.” This shocking incident comes after the controversial death of Cecil the Lion who was killed by US dentist Walter Palmer in July, 2015. The American hunter killed the elderly lion using a bow and arrow resulting in an excruciating death which reportedly lasted for 40 hours. Dentist Walter Palmer was the subject of worldwide condemnation for the brutal slaughter of elderly big cat Cecil.

The “homemade” spear appears to be a Cold Steel Long Assegai with a 13.3”x 2.5” 12.8 oz. spear head and a 6‘- 9.5”long Ash wood shaft. A Go-Pro video camera was mounted on the shaft to provide a spear point view of the action. The article says the bear weighed “28 stone” or 392 pound (1 stone = 14 pounds). That makes him a good- sized black bear.

Josh Bomar is getting a lot of flak from animal rights activists and some self-identified hunters alike for excessive cruelty. So was using a spear more inhumane that using a rifle or arrow would have been? In a word: No. In this case the 13 inch inflicted an enormous wound on the bear. The bear ran a mere 60 yards before it collapsed and expired from blood loss. Since the average black bear can run 25 to 30 mph (by comparison the world’s fastest human, Usain Bolt, averages 23.37 mph in the 100 meter dash), this means the bear died 4-6 seconds after being hit. Hardly a “slow and painful death”. A bullet or an arrow would not have executed a faster kill with a hit in the same location. Unlike human beings, animals do not collapse in a heap when surprised and mortally wounded. Rather they will invariably take off running at full speed and keep running until they collapse from blood loss. An experienced Canadian bear hunter once related to me he had never seen a black bear get dropped in its tracks from a shot to the body. To accomplish THAT one has to hit the bear in the brain or sever the spinal cord. Hard to be so precise on a moving animal and easy to botch. Better to aim for the heart-lung area. Likewise there are many recorded instances of agitated and adrenalized human beings staying on their feet and continuing to fight, run or drive a car for many seconds after being shot through the heart before collapsing from blood loss and the subsequent shutdown of the brain. Using a spear naturally takes much more skill and stealth to ensure a quick kill than is required using a gun or bow and arrow. More than the average hunter possesses. Which is why many U.S. states prohibit the use of such unusual weapons for hunting. Not to mention the fact the government is often saddled with the responsibility of keeping people from coming to grief trough such risk taking. Nevertheless I checked the game laws for the province of Alberta and found there is no prohibition on using a spear for big game hunting there. Hunting bears over bait is not illegal there either. It’s not as easy as it sounds. You often have to stay still and alert for hours, days on end even, while the bugs eat you, waiting for the bear to come to the bait. The bear will make as much noise as the mosquitoes who dine on you as he approaches that bait. If the bear sees, hears or scents you before you see him…he’s gone! Faster than Usain Bolt!

Apparently Bomar waited until the next day to find the bear’s carcass. It is SOP to not pursue wounded animals closely lest you chase the adrenalized animal out of the county before it expires. If the wound is severe with much blood loss they will quickly lie down and die if not hotly pursued and then you will typically be able to find them laying close by after about a half-hour to an hour wait. It also a good idea to allow large carnivores the chance to bleed to death first lest they decide to take you with them if you come upon them while they are still alive. For that reason if it’s near sundown when you take the carnivore it is also SOP to wait until dawn to look for them rather than try to track the wounded animal in the dark. This may have been the case here.

Bomar’s critics are being very disingenuous and should be ignored. The animal rights cranks hate all forms of hunting and want to see the practice totally abolished, so they will NEVER be satisfied. The hunters who are criticizing Bomar are ‘fraidy cats who wish to avoid harassment from the animals rights cranks and imagine that throwing Bomar under the bus will placate the Social Justice Warriors (SJW). It won’t. We’ve learned that by now. Rather hunters should close ranks around people like Bomar. Like Musk Oxen. Even if one thinks guys like him are attention seeking hot dogs, they’re still on side of hunters like you. Otherwise if the SJW jackals think they can cut people out of the traditional/conservative herd, gang up on them and destroy their reputations and livelihoods that is precisely what they will keep doing. Eventually the SJWs will come for you. As it is Under-Armour has dropped its sponsorship of Sarah Bomar in reaction to pressure it is receiving from the usual PC suspects.

My namesake Jeremy Bentham, the crackpot English Philosopher (1748-1832), was the original animal rights crank: “The question is not, 'Can they reason?' nor, 'Can they talk?' but rather, 'Can they suffer?'”- Personally, to borrow a turn of phrase from Old Jeremy himself, I think animal rights is “nonsense on stilts”. Giving “human” rights to non-sentient, non-human creatures does nothing but create one more army of ambulance chasing lawyers enriching themselves by pursuing predatory lawsuits against all and sundry, with absolutely no benefit accrued to human society or even the animals themselves. Like we don’t have enough of that kind of oppression now?

Pertaining to weaponry, the lesson learned here is that spears, as well as other pole arms, can inflict devastating wounds. During the Mexican War U.S. Army soldiers and Texas Rangers were particularly fearful of the weapon used by the Mexican lancers for its ability to inflict ghastly and un-survivable wounds. It could put a hole in a man you could literally look through. In October 1899 in a battle at Elandslaagte, South Africa, during the opening weeks of the Boer War, outnumbered Boer Militiamen fled the battlefield pursued by British lancers. The 5th British Lancers speared to death some 60 fleeing militiamen. One Lancer, Corporal Kelly, speared two Boers riding together on a horse putting his lance clean through both men. Throughout the 19th and early 20th Centuries there was much discussion in military circles over whether the saber or the lance was the most effective weapon for cavalry. Of course all this discussion was rendered moot during World War One when the widespread use of repeating rifles, machineguns, quick firing artillery and trench warfare quickly ended any notion that horse cavalry could continue to be used as an offensive combat arm. By that time more than a few cavalrymen had long since decided that swords and lances were of limited use and that cavalry troopers were better off carrying extra ammunition for their revolvers and carbines. Lances were an impediment in close terrain after all and with both lances and sabers the enemy usually had to want to come out and play for them to be able to be used to good effect. Young Winston Churchill drew his new-fangled ten-shot, semi-automatic, Model 96 Mauser pistol in preference to his sword during the big cavalry charge at Omdurman in 1898 and did good execution with it.

Here’s another example of hunting with a spear: A video of Jared Allen, the former defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings #69, spearing an elk with a Cold Steel Samburu spear. Again a skillful throw and a very quick kill; little different from what could be accomplished with a rifle or bow and arrow. FYI: Allen paid to kill this elk on a private game reserve in Central Illinois so state game laws did not apply. Thus he was allowed to use the spear. There are no native elk in Illinois so these are exotic animals owned and stocked by the preserve. The exotic animals are allowed to run free on a very large farm or ranch so hunting them is no different than hunting “wild” animals on unmanaged farmland.

The fact is in an increasingly urbanized society such as ours game animals would quickly be allowed to go extinct if no one was allowed to hunt them. Few people would contribute anything to the maintenance of something they had no use for. Whereas hunters and fisherman voluntarily pay hundreds of millions of dollars annually in license fees and excise taxes on ammunition and sporting goods. All of this is used to support wildlife conservation.

"In a civilized and cultivated country, wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen." - President Theodore Roosevelt, Life Member NRA.